The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-02-19


modern science for carrying the death SEN
tsnce into effect in capital cases, is an enthu-
siastic investigator, and since the commits
sion was created by the last legislature he
has spent considerable time in making re-
searches.
do you believe in capital punishment
doctor," was asked.
~ believe the death penalty is necessary, {"
he replied, ''for there is a class of people, a
lower order of beings, To whom it is positive
ly necessary. l refer to people who come
from IA line of murdercrs-that is, men who
have descended directly from families of
criminal proclivities. The man who walks
around ready to commit willful, preIne,li-
tatsd murder should die. He belongs to a
race that We want to wipe from the face of
the earth. The laws are liberal enough, with
the various degrees of homicide and man
slaughter, to protect individuals who do it in
the heat of passion or under intense provo
cation"
"And about women"
''If the law is changed from hanging to
death by electricity then il should and
would be made to include women as well as
men. Any discrimination between the sexes
would make the law unconstitutional"
"Would there be any objection to execut-
ing women with electricity?''
''No, str; there would not. 1 think there
would no longer be the same prejudice that
there is now, because hanging is poor way
of inficting the death penalty"
'How would you use electricity5'
''Just see here" said DIR. Southwick,
jumping up and seating himself in an arm
chair. THE condemned man can sit natur-
ally in chair like this, place his hands on
the metal arms and converse with those
around him. The metal plates would be
connected with a powerful dynamo and at
the proper moment somebody in another
room would press a button, close the current
and the fatal shock would pass through the
body of the subject. The charge would go
straight through the heart and lungs and
penetrate the system, death instantly result
ing. The expense of the apparatus with which
to execute by electricity in this city would
be about $50. Connection could be made
with the electric light station, and the cx-
pense Of an execution thereafter would be of
little consequence. It would not cost any
more than a cigar to kill a condemned man
after that. 1t would not be necessary to
maintain extensive and powerful machinery
In all the prisons, and it would be- vastly
cheaper than hanging"
'You believe then in electricity?'
Electricity is the coming power. Death
= instantaneous and the body is not defaced.
There is not the morbidness of a hanging,
which Is a relic of b4rbarism. Just See IL
recent execution here-Hemans think it
was-when the hanged man breathed fifteen
minutes after the drop fell. III that is in
Simultaneous death then 1 would rather have
q lingering death"
''HAve you considered poisons as a means
Of executing criminals
''Prussic acid has been suggested, but
neither that nor garroting has met with any
favor. A few have advocated the guillotine,
but think IL Is a barbarous mode Of causing
death. Hardly any one favors hanging in
preference to electricity, the very system
being barbarous, as are the method and
paraphernalia used"
''Do you expect that your plan will be
adoptedi''
II sincerely hope it will If it is adopted
by the coming legislature other states will
undoubtedly adopt it, and l think that
within two years it will be adopted all over
the world. 1t would certainly be better
than celebrating the death penalty, and in
the case of a woman there would be much
less objection to its operation than there is
to hanging"
DR.. Southwick added that in England the
same question had arisen, but no satisfactory
substitute for hanging had been suggested.
One of the commissioners suggested that
various means be adopted and the condemned
culprit be given his choice of deaths.
State Senator Daniel II. Mcmillan has
written a letter to the commission in which he
says: 1.-The principal objection to the present
method Is that it is primitive in its origin
and barbarous in its effects. 1t lacks every
element of exactness and precision. 1t is
absolutely impossible to arrange formula
as to the size of the rope, the length of the
drop or the heft of the weight and the dis
lance of its fall, as these several elements
must not only depend upon the size and
weight but the general build and make up of
the convict The want of exactness in these
several elements sometimes leads to the mutt
lation of the body by severing the head; to
unnecessary and severe suffering by reason
of the breaking of the rope, and also TO death
by suffocation where there has been an inn
proper adjustment. All these thinSs COM
bine to make hanging by the neck most
brutal.
II am heartily in favor of the application
OF electricity for the purposes in question,
for the reason that it is simple, sure and
painless. think that if the places of cxecu-
ton were limited To two in this state, say
one at Auburn and one at Sing Sing, the
two state prisons, and that all convicts as
soon as condemned to suffer the death
penalty should be confined in one of those
two prisons depending somewhat upon the
locality of the trial, it would be vast inn
provement upon the present method of hav-
ing the criminal confined i'll the county Jail
till the day of execution"
Regarding the machinery to be used
Senator Mcmillan says: These executions
could take place in the Jail proper, in room
set apart for that purpose, with no appli-
ances that of chair, with the hand
rest of each arm properly connected with
all electric machine in which the condemned
might be seated and the connection made by
strapping a hand 10 the hand rest on each
chair There can be no difficulty whatever
in procuring a current OF electricity of suffi-
cient strength to paralyze the muscles of
the heart by this method. Indeed, the cur
rent that is used in this city for electric
lighting purposes Is Of sufficient strength to
absolutely diSnlember the body of any human
being. but a current of electricity of suffi-
cient strength 10 cause instantaneous death
by passing from hand 10 ha nj through the
heart will not mark the body in the least"